Product Management Vocabulary: 100 Key English Terms
Product teams in tech companies, startups and digital businesses work largely in English: roadmaps, PRDs, user stories, experiment results and launch plans use the same vocabulary all over the world. This glossary explains the words product managers use every day, from product vision and discovery to KPIs, A/B tests and go/no-go decisions, in plain English and Turkish with examples from real product work. It is written for product managers, product owners, people moving into product roles and the designers, engineers and analysts who work alongside them.
100 terms
10 topics
55 core terms
200 example sentences
Read, understand, keep going
No account needed. Read the meaning, see where the term is used, then study the examples. Click any word in the lesson for help. You can also select a word and press Alt + Enter.
Vision & Strategy
product vision
noun
Meaning
A short description of the future a product is trying to create for its users, usually looking several years ahead, that explains why the product exists.
Where you use it
Written by product leaders and shared in all-hands meetings, strategy decks and onboarding documents. A good vision is inspiring and stable; the strategy and roadmap explain how to move toward it. You set, share, communicate or align on a vision.
Examples
Our product vision is that any small shop can start selling online in a single afternoon.
Before we debate features, let's check whether this idea fits the product vision.
Common phrases
set the product vision · share the product vision · long-term product vision · vision statement
The plan for how a product will reach its vision: which users and problems it will focus on, how it will win against alternatives and what it will not do.
Where you use it
Sits between the vision and the roadmap. Product leaders write it and review it once or twice a year. In discussions, people test ideas against it: does this feature support our strategy? A strategy that says yes to everything is not a strategy.
Examples
Our product strategy for next year is to win mid-sized companies, not large enterprises.
The new head of product asked every team to show how their roadmap supports the product strategy.
Common phrases
define a product strategy · product strategy review · align with the product strategy · long-term strategy
The point at which a product clearly satisfies a real need in a large enough market, so customers keep using it, pay for it and recommend it.
Where you use it
A key idea in startups, often shortened to PMF. Teams search for, reach or lose product-market fit. Signs include strong retention and growth through word of mouth. A popular survey asks users how they would feel if they could no longer use the product; many “very disappointed” answers suggest fit.
Examples
We haven't reached product-market fit yet; most users leave after the first week.
Investors want to see signs of product-market fit before the next round.
Common phrases
reach product-market fit · find product-market fit · signs of product-market fit · before product-market fit
A clear statement of the main benefit a product gives its customers and why they should choose it over other options.
Where you use it
Used in strategy, marketing and sales. Teams define, test, sharpen and communicate a value proposition. A strong one is specific: “Get paid in two days, not thirty” works better than “Smart invoicing for everyone”.
Examples
Our value proposition is simple: the cheapest way to send parcels across Europe.
If the sales team can't explain the value proposition in one sentence, we have a problem.
Common phrases
clear value proposition · core value proposition · test the value proposition · unique value proposition
The specific group of customers a product is mainly built and sold for, defined by things such as industry, company size, location or needs.
Where you use it
Choosing a target market also means choosing who you will not serve, at least for now. Teams define, size and enter a target market. Related terms are TAM (total addressable market) and ICP (ideal customer profile).
Examples
Our target market is dental clinics with fewer than ten employees.
Before we add enterprise features, are we sure large banks are our target market?
Common phrases
define the target market · enter a target market · size the target market · core target market
A structured comparison of a product with its competitors' products, looking at features, pricing, strengths, weaknesses and positioning.
Where you use it
PMs do competitive analysis when shaping strategy, pricing or a launch. It often ends up as a comparison table or a short deck. Good teams use it to find gaps in the market, not to copy every feature a competitor has.
Examples
The competitive analysis shows that none of our rivals support offline mode.
Can you update the competitive analysis now that they've changed their pricing?
Common phrases
do a competitive analysis · competitive analysis report · update the competitive analysis · competitive landscape
The change in user behavior or business results that a team's work produces, such as fewer support calls or higher retention, rather than the work itself.
Where you use it
Modern product teams talk about outcomes over outputs: shipping a feature is an output, users finishing tasks faster is an outcome. Outcome-based roadmaps list the results a team wants to achieve instead of a list of features.
Examples
The outcome we want is fewer abandoned carts, not just a new checkout page.
Let's report on outcomes, not on how many tickets we closed.
Common phrases
desired outcome · business outcome · outcomes over outputs · outcome-based roadmap · focus on outcomes
An argument, usually in a document or presentation, that explains why a project or product is worth the money and effort, including its costs, benefits and risks.
Where you use it
PMs build, make or present a business case to win budget, extra people or a place on the roadmap. A strong business case links the investment to clear outcomes, such as revenue, cost savings or retention, and is honest about its assumptions.
Examples
To get two more engineers, I need to make a business case for the integration.
The business case assumed 5% fewer support tickets, and we actually saw 9%.
Common phrases
make a business case · build a business case · strong business case · present the business case
A group of customers who share similar needs, behaviors or characteristics, such as company size, industry or the way they use a product.
Where you use it
Teams target, analyze and prioritize customer segments. Looking at metrics by segment often reveals what averages hide: retention may be great for agencies but poor for freelancers. Typical B2B segments are SMB, mid-market and enterprise.
Examples
Our fastest-growing customer segment is online stores with fewer than five employees.
This feature matters to only one customer segment, but that segment brings in the most revenue.
A high-level plan that shows what a product team intends to work on over the coming months or quarters, and why, without detailing every task.
Where you use it
Shared with leadership, sales and customers in different versions. Teams build, update, present and commit to a roadmap. Many PMs prefer roadmaps organized around problems or goals rather than fixed dates, because dates create promises that are hard to keep.
Examples
Offline mode is on the roadmap for Q3, but it isn't a firm commitment yet.
Sales keeps promising features that aren't on the roadmap.
Common phrases
product roadmap · on the roadmap · share the roadmap · roadmap review · update the roadmap
Short for objectives and key results: a goal-setting method in which a team sets an inspiring objective and two to five measurable results that show progress toward it.
Where you use it
Usually set every quarter and reviewed at the end of it. Teams set, write, track and score OKRs. A key result should be a measurable outcome (raise activation from 30% to 40%), not a task (launch the new onboarding).
Examples
One of our OKRs this quarter is to cut onboarding time in half.
If a feature doesn't support any OKR, why is it on the roadmap?
Usage note
OKR and KPI are not the same. A KPI is a number you keep watching; an OKR is a goal for a set period that says how much you want to change something.
Common phrases
set OKRs · team OKRs · quarterly OKRs · OKR planning · score OKRs
An important point or event in a plan, such as the end of a beta or a feature being ready for launch, used to check progress.
Where you use it
Milestones have no duration; they mark that something is done. Teams set, reach, hit and miss milestones. On product roadmaps they help stakeholders see progress without promising a date for every detail.
Examples
The next milestone is the private beta with ten customers in June.
We hit every milestone except the data migration.
Common phrases
reach a milestone · hit a milestone · key milestone · miss a milestone
The planned order and dates of the main steps of a piece of work, from the start to the launch.
Where you use it
PMs share, agree on and update timelines, and sometimes a timeline slips. A realistic timeline includes time for testing, reviews and dependencies on other teams. When stakeholders ask “What's the timeline?”, they usually mean “When will it be ready?”
Examples
What's the timeline for the iPad version?
The timeline slipped by two weeks because the partner's API arrived late.
Common phrases
project timeline · tight timeline · realistic timeline · the timeline slipped · share a timeline
A piece of work that cannot start or finish until something else, often owned by another team or company, is done first.
Where you use it
Dependencies are a top reason for delays. PMs identify, track and manage dependencies, remove them where possible and flag them early in planning. Common phrases: we have a dependency on the platform team; this is blocked by a dependency.
Examples
We have a dependency on the payments team, so we can't promise a date yet.
Let's map all the dependencies before quarterly planning.
Common phrases
have a dependency on · manage dependencies · cross-team dependency · remove a dependency · dependency map
A large, planned piece of work aimed at a specific business goal, usually made up of several epics and often involving more than one team.
Where you use it
Common on roadmaps and in leadership updates: the self-service initiative, our top three initiatives for the year. Teams kick off, lead, fund and deprioritize initiatives. In tools like Jira it is often one level above an epic.
Examples
The mobile payments initiative involves four teams and runs until the end of the year.
Which initiative should we drop if we lose two engineers?
Usage note
In Turkish, inisiyatif usually means acting on your own without waiting to be told. In product work, an initiative is a large planned project, not a personal quality.
Common phrases
strategic initiative · lead an initiative · kick off an initiative · top initiatives
The process in which product and engineering teams decide every three months which goals and initiatives they will focus on in the next quarter.
Where you use it
Usually involves reviewing results, setting OKRs, estimating capacity and agreeing on dependencies. In large companies it can take several weeks. People also say Q3 planning, and work is planned for or pushed to next quarter.
Examples
Quarterly planning starts next week, so please send your ideas and data by Friday.
During quarterly planning we realized we had committed to twice our real capacity.
Short for minimum viable product: the simplest version of a product that can be released to real users to learn whether the idea is worth building further.
Where you use it
Said letter by letter: M-V-P. The point of an MVP is learning, not just a cheap first release. Teams build, launch and test an MVP, and often argue about how minimal it can be while still being viable.
Examples
For the MVP, we'll skip online payments and send invoices by hand.
The MVP showed us that people wanted the reminders, not the social features.
Usage note
In sports, MVP means most valuable player. In product work it always means minimum viable product.
Common phrases
build an MVP · launch an MVP · test the MVP · MVP scope
The work of finding out which problems are worth solving and which solutions will actually work, before the team commits to building them.
Where you use it
Includes customer interviews, data analysis, prototypes and quick tests. Often contrasted with delivery, the work of building and shipping. Many teams practice continuous discovery, talking to users every week instead of only at the start of a project.
Examples
We're still in product discovery, so nothing is on the roadmap yet.
Product discovery saved us from building a feature nobody wanted.
Common phrases
continuous discovery · discovery phase · run discovery · discovery work
The study of how real users behave, what they need and what problems they have, through methods such as interviews, surveys and usability tests.
Where you use it
Done by UX researchers, designers and PMs. You do, run or conduct user research and share its findings or insights. Qualitative research explains why people act as they do; quantitative research shows how many of them do it.
Examples
User research showed that most people never open the settings page.
We don't have budget for a big study, but we can still do some quick user research.
Common phrases
conduct user research · user research findings · qualitative user research · user research session
Opinions, complaints and ideas from users, customers or colleagues about a product, which help the team understand what to improve.
Where you use it
PMs collect, gather and act on feedback from support tickets, app store reviews, sales calls and in-app surveys. Closing the loop means telling customers what you did with their feedback, even when the answer is no.
Examples
We got a lot of feedback about the new menu, and most of it was negative.
Can you give me some feedback on the PRD before Friday?
Usage note
Feedback is uncountable. Say “some feedback” or “two pieces of feedback”, never “a feedback” or “feedbacks”.
Common phrases
customer feedback · collect feedback · act on feedback · feedback loop · close the loop
A specific problem, frustration or difficulty that users experience, which a product can solve or reduce.
Where you use it
Heard in research findings, sales calls and strategy discussions. You identify, uncover, address and solve pain points. The strongest products usually solve a pain point that users already try to fix with workarounds such as spreadsheets.
Examples
The biggest pain point for our drivers is waiting at the warehouse.
Every interview mentioned the same pain point: invoices take too long to approve.
Common phrases
customer pain point · address a pain point · biggest pain point · solve a pain point · identify pain points
A realistic but invented profile of a typical user, based on research, that describes their goals, habits and problems so the team can design for them.
Where you use it
Personas usually have a name, a photo and a short story, for example “Busy Burcu, clinic manager”. Teams create, build and design for personas. They are only useful if they come from real research; personas made up at a desk can mislead.
Examples
This feature is for our power user persona, not for first-time visitors.
We updated the personas after twenty new customer interviews.
Common phrases
user persona · create personas · buyer persona · primary persona · design for a persona
A one-to-one conversation with a current or potential customer to understand their needs, habits and problems, usually as part of product discovery.
Where you use it
PMs schedule, run and synthesize customer interviews. Good interviewers ask about past behavior (tell me about the last time you…) rather than asking people to predict the future or judge an idea, because people are polite and bad at predicting.
Examples
I have three customer interviews this week to understand why teams cancel.
In the customer interviews, nobody mentioned price; they all talked about setup time.
Common phrases
run a customer interview · schedule customer interviews · interview notes · interview guide
A short, clear description of the user problem a team is trying to solve, who has it and why it matters, written before discussing solutions.
Where you use it
Often the first section of a PRD or one-pager. A good problem statement does not contain the solution. PMs write, refine and agree on a problem statement, and come back to it when the team starts debating features.
Examples
Problem statement: new restaurant owners can't tell which dishes actually make them money.
Before we jump to solutions, can we agree on the problem statement?
Common phrases
write a problem statement · clear problem statement · agree on the problem statement · refine the problem statement
A way of understanding customers by focusing on the progress they are trying to make in a given situation, their “job”, rather than on their profile or the features they ask for.
Where you use it
Shortened to JTBD. The core idea is that people “hire” a product to get a job done and “fire” it when something else does the job better. Jobs are often written as: When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [expected outcome].
Examples
From a jobs to be done view, people don't want a budgeting app; they want to stop worrying at the end of the month.
Our interviews followed the jobs to be done approach: we asked about the moment they decided to switch.
Common phrases
jobs to be done framework · job story · JTBD interview · jobs to be done approach
All the steps and experiences a customer goes through with a product or company, from first hearing about it to buying, using, getting help and perhaps leaving.
Where you use it
Teams draw customer journey maps to see where users struggle and where departments hand work over to each other. Common phrases: map the customer journey, a step in the journey, the end-to-end customer journey. Also called the user journey.
Examples
When we mapped the customer journey, we saw that people wait four days for their first login email.
Support sits at the end of the customer journey, but they hear about every problem.
Common phrases
customer journey map · map the customer journey · end-to-end customer journey · user journey
An early, simplified model of a product or feature, from paper sketches to clickable designs, built to test an idea with users before real development.
Where you use it
Designers usually build prototypes in tools like Figma; PMs use them in user tests and stakeholder reviews. Low-fidelity prototypes are rough and fast; high-fidelity ones look almost real. Also a verb: let's prototype two options.
Examples
We tested a clickable prototype with six users before writing any code.
The prototype showed that nobody understood the new icon.
Common phrases
clickable prototype · build a prototype · test a prototype · low-fidelity prototype · high-fidelity prototype
A research method in which real users try to complete tasks with a product or prototype while the team watches where they succeed, hesitate or fail.
Where you use it
Run by designers, researchers or PMs, in person or remotely. Five users are often enough to find the biggest problems. During usability testing, participants are asked to think aloud, and the team avoids helping them.
Examples
Usability testing showed that four of five users couldn't find the cancel button.
We do a round of usability testing before every major release.
A short description of a feature written from the user's point of view, usually in the form “As a [type of user], I want [goal] so that [benefit].”
Where you use it
The basic unit of work in agile backlogs. PMs and product owners write user stories, split big ones into smaller ones and add acceptance criteria. Engineers then estimate them and pull them into a sprint. Often just called a story.
Examples
Here's the user story: “As a store owner, I want to export my orders so that I can send them to my accountant.”
This user story is too big for one sprint; let's split it.
Common phrases
write a user story · split a user story · user story mapping · estimate a user story
A piece of functionality in a product that lets users do something, such as search, dark mode or saving a payment card.
Where you use it
One of the most frequent words in product work. Teams build, ship, launch, test and remove features. PMs often warn against becoming a feature factory, a team that ships many features without checking whether they solve real problems.
Examples
The new export feature is the item our enterprise customers ask for most.
We shipped five features last quarter, but retention didn't move.
Common phrases
build a feature · ship a feature · new feature · feature set · feature factory
Something a product or feature must do, or a condition it must meet, written down so that the team agrees on what to build.
Where you use it
Used in PRDs, specs and tickets. Teams gather, define, document, clarify and change requirements. Functional requirements describe behavior (users can reset their password); non-functional requirements describe qualities such as speed, security and accessibility.
Examples
One key requirement is that the page loads in under two seconds on mobile.
The requirements changed twice during the sprint, so the estimate is no longer valid.
Common phrases
gather requirements · business requirements · functional requirement · meet a requirement · clarify the requirements
Short for product requirements document: a document that explains what a feature or product should do, for whom and why, so the whole team works from the same plan.
Where you use it
Written by the PM, usually in Notion, Confluence or Google Docs. A typical PRD covers the problem, goals and success metrics, user stories, requirements, scope and open questions. Teams write, review and sign off on a PRD.
Examples
I'll share the PRD for the referral program by Wednesday.
The PRD doesn't say what happens when the user has no internet connection.
Common phrases
write a PRD · review the PRD · PRD template · sign off on the PRD
The specific conditions a user story must meet before the team and the product owner accept it as finished and working correctly.
Where you use it
Written under each user story, often in the Given/When/Then format: given a logged-in user, when they tap Save, then the item appears in their list. Testers use acceptance criteria to check the work before it is accepted.
Examples
The acceptance criteria say the export must include deleted orders.
Please add acceptance criteria before we estimate this story.
Usage note
Criteria is plural. Say “one criterion” and “three criteria”, not “a criteria” or “criterias”.
Common phrases
write acceptance criteria · meet the acceptance criteria · clear acceptance criteria · list of acceptance criteria
A specific situation in which someone uses a product to reach a goal, described step by step or as a short scenario.
Where you use it
PMs and sales teams talk about the main use cases of a product and new use cases that customers discover. In requirements work, a use case can also be a formal document listing the actor, the steps and the outcome.
Examples
Our main use case is small teams planning shifts, not hospitals.
A customer showed us a use case we had never thought of: tracking rental equipment.
Common phrases
main use case · use case for · cover a use case · support a use case
A large piece of work that is too big for one sprint and is broken down into several smaller user stories, such as “Multi-currency support”.
Where you use it
Used in Jira and similar tools to group related stories. PMs create, break down and close epics, and report progress on them to stakeholders. In everyday English epic means heroic or great; in agile work it only means a large body of work.
Examples
The new checkout epic has twelve stories, and eight are done.
Let's break this epic down before sprint planning.
Common phrases
create an epic · break down an epic · epic owner · link a story to an epic
An unusual situation that happens only at the extreme limits of normal use, such as an empty list, a very long name or a lost connection during payment.
Where you use it
PMs, designers, engineers and testers discuss edge cases while writing requirements and acceptance criteria. Missed edge cases often turn into bugs after launch. Common phrases: handle an edge case, cover edge cases, it's just an edge case.
Examples
What happens in the edge case where two people edit the same order at once?
It's an edge case, but it affects our biggest customer, so we need to fix it.
Common phrases
handle edge cases · cover edge cases · rare edge case · edge case testing
Short for specification: a document that describes in detail how a feature should look and behave, so that designers and engineers can build it correctly.
Where you use it
Informal and very common: write a spec, the spec says, it's not in the spec, build to spec. In some companies a spec is the same as a PRD; in others the PRD explains the why and the technical spec, written by engineers, explains the how.
Examples
The spec doesn't mention what happens when the file is larger than 10 MB.
I'll update the spec with the new error messages after today's review.
Common phrases
write a spec · technical spec · update the spec · build to spec · spec review
A suggestion from a customer, user or colleague asking for a new feature or for a change to an existing one.
Where you use it
Feature requests arrive through support, sales, reviews and community forums. PMs log, tag, group and respond to them, looking for the problem behind each request instead of building exactly what was asked.
Examples
Dark mode is our most common feature request, with over 400 votes.
Thanks for the feature request. Can you tell me what you're trying to do when you need it?
Common phrases
log a feature request · top feature request · feature request board · customer feature request
To decide which work is most important and should be done first, and therefore which work will wait or will not be done at all.
Where you use it
Probably the core skill of a PM. You prioritize features, the backlog or requests, often with frameworks such as RICE or MoSCoW. The noun is prioritization. Hearing “everything is a priority” usually means no real prioritization has happened.
Examples
We need to prioritize the checkout bugs over the new dashboard.
How did you prioritize these ten requests from sales?
Usage note
British English usually writes prioritise and prioritisation. The stress is on the second syllable: pry-OR-i-tize.
Common phrases
prioritize the backlog · prioritize ruthlessly · prioritize by impact · prioritization framework
The slow, uncontrolled growth of a feature or project as extra requirements are added after work has started, usually without changing the deadline.
Where you use it
Negative and often heard in retrospectives: the delay was caused by scope creep. PMs prevent it by writing a clear scope, listing what is out of scope and answering late requests with “good idea, next version”.
Examples
We lost three weeks to scope creep because every review added one more report.
To avoid scope creep, I've added an “out of scope” section to the PRD.
Common phrases
avoid scope creep · cause scope creep · manage scope creep · out of scope
A situation in which getting more of one thing means accepting less of another, such as releasing faster but with fewer features.
Where you use it
Product work is full of trade-offs between speed, quality, scope and cost. PMs make trade-offs and explain them openly to stakeholders. Also written tradeoff, especially in American tech writing.
Examples
The trade-off is clear: we can launch in May without the reports, or in July with them.
Every roadmap decision is a trade-off, so let's write down what we're giving up.
Common phrases
make a trade-off · explain the trade-offs · difficult trade-off · weigh the trade-offs
A prioritization method that gives each idea a score based on Reach, Impact, Confidence and Effort, so that very different ideas can be compared.
Where you use it
Said as one word, like the food. The score is reach × impact × confidence ÷ effort. PMs often use it in spreadsheets during planning. It makes assumptions visible, but the numbers are still estimates, so the final ranking needs judgment.
Examples
Using RICE, the search improvements scored higher than the new dashboard.
Our confidence in the RICE scores is low because we have no data on reach yet.
Common phrases
RICE score · RICE framework · use RICE · score ideas with RICE
A prioritization method that sorts requirements into four groups: Must have, Should have, Could have and Won't have (this time).
Where you use it
The two o's are added only to make the word readable; it has nothing to do with the city. Teams use it to agree on the scope of a release or an MVP. The Won't group is as useful as the Must group, because it makes exclusions explicit.
Examples
We used the MoSCoW method to cut the MVP down to six must-haves.
Thanks to the MoSCoW method, everyone could see that dark mode was only a could-have.
Common phrases
MoSCoW prioritization · must-have features · nice-to-have · won't-have list
An improvement that is cheap and fast to deliver but still brings clear value, so it is worth doing soon.
Where you use it
Comes from the impact versus effort matrix: high impact, low effort. New PMs often look for quick wins to build trust. Too many quick wins, however, can keep a team away from the hard, important problems.
Examples
Fixing the confusing error message is a quick win; it takes a day and cuts support tickets.
Let's start the quarter with two quick wins while discovery continues on the bigger problem.
Common phrases
look for quick wins · a few quick wins · deliver quick wins · easy quick win
The future cost of shortcuts taken in code or design to deliver faster, which makes later changes slower and riskier until the team fixes them.
Where you use it
Also called tech debt. Engineers raise it; PMs need to make room for it on the roadmap, often by reserving part of every sprint. Like financial debt, a little can be useful, but too much slows the whole team down.
Examples
We're spending 20% of every sprint paying down technical debt in the billing system.
This quick fix will add technical debt, so let's create a ticket to clean it up later.
To review incoming bugs, requests or issues quickly and sort them by urgency and importance, deciding which to handle now, later or not at all.
Where you use it
Borrowed from hospital emergency rooms. Product teams triage bugs, feature requests and support escalations, often in a regular triage meeting. Also a noun: the bug went through triage. Severity and priority are the usual labels.
Examples
We triage new bugs every morning, and only the critical ones go into the current sprint.
Can you help me triage this week's feature requests from sales?
An ordered list of all the work a product team might do, such as features, improvements and bug fixes, with the most important items at the top.
Where you use it
Kept in tools such as Jira, Linear or Azure DevOps. Items are added to, prioritized in and pulled from the backlog. A long backlog is normal; an unordered one is a problem. In Scrum it is called the product backlog, and the product owner is accountable for it.
Examples
Good idea, but it's not urgent. Let's add it to the backlog.
We have over 300 items in the backlog, and half of them are more than a year old.
Usage note
In everyday English a backlog is work that is late and piling up. In product teams it simply means the list of future work and is not negative.
Common phrases
product backlog · add to the backlog · prioritize the backlog · backlog item · clean up the backlog
A fixed, short period, usually one to four weeks, in which a team builds and finishes an agreed set of work before planning the next one.
Where you use it
A Scrum term used widely across agile teams. A sprint starts with sprint planning and ends with a sprint review and a retrospective. PMs ask what is in this sprint, what slipped to the next sprint and whether a request can fit in the current one.
Examples
We can't add this to the current sprint, but it can go into the next one.
Our sprints are two weeks long and start on Wednesdays.
A unit that agile teams use to estimate the relative size of a user story, combining effort, complexity and uncertainty instead of counting hours.
Where you use it
Often given on a Fibonacci-like scale: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13. Engineers estimate story points, for example with planning poker; the PM should not set them. The number of points a team usually finishes in a sprint is called its velocity.
Examples
The team gave the export story eight story points because of the unknowns in the API.
We usually finish about 30 story points per sprint.
Usage note
Story points are not hours, and comparing points between teams makes little sense, because each team has its own scale.
Common phrases
estimate in story points · assign story points · story point estimate · velocity
A shared checklist of quality conditions that every piece of work must meet before the team can call it done, such as tested, reviewed and documented.
Where you use it
A Scrum term, shortened to DoD. It applies to every story, while acceptance criteria are different for each story. Teams agree on, update and meet the definition of done; work that does not meet it goes back to the backlog.
Examples
Our definition of done includes updated help articles, not just working code.
It works on my laptop, but it doesn't meet the definition of done until it's tested on mobile.
Common phrases
meet the definition of done · agree on a definition of done · team definition of done · DoD checklist
Regular work in which the product owner and the team review upcoming backlog items, clarify them, split large ones and estimate them so they are ready for a sprint.
Where you use it
Often a weekly one-hour meeting. It used to be called backlog grooming; refinement is now the preferred word. A good refinement session ends with the top of the backlog ready, so sprint planning goes quickly.
Examples
Let's discuss the search stories in backlog refinement on Thursday.
We skipped backlog refinement last week, and sprint planning took three hours.
To release a product, feature or fix to users so that they can actually start using it.
Where you use it
Informal and extremely common in tech: ship a feature, ship it, ship fast, we shipped on time. It comes from sending goods, but no physical shipping is involved. A team that ships often learns faster from real users.
Examples
We shipped the new search on Tuesday, and usage is already up.
Let's ship a simple version first and improve it based on feedback.
Common phrases
ship a feature · ship fast · ship it · ship on time · ship to production
To improve a product step by step by releasing a version, learning from users and data, and then changing it again in repeated cycles.
Where you use it
Teams iterate on a design, a feature or an idea. The noun is iteration, which can also mean one cycle or sprint. “Let's ship and iterate” is a common way to say that the first version does not need to be perfect.
Examples
We iterated on the onboarding three times before activation improved.
The first iteration was rough, but users told us exactly what to fix.
Common phrases
iterate on a design · iterate quickly · next iteration · ship and iterate · iterate based on feedback
A regular meeting at the end of a sprint or project in which the team discusses what went well, what did not and what to change next time.
Where you use it
Usually shortened to retro. It focuses on how the team works, not on the product itself. A good retrospective ends with a few concrete action items, each with an owner, and avoids blaming individuals.
Examples
In the retrospective, the team agreed to stop adding work in the middle of the sprint.
Let's hold a launch retrospective next week while everything is still fresh.
Common phrases
sprint retrospective · run a retrospective · retrospective action items · launch retrospective
Short for key performance indicator: one of the few numbers a team watches closely to judge whether a product or business is doing well.
Where you use it
Said letter by letter: K-P-I. Teams set, track, report on and hit KPIs. A product may track dozens of metrics, but only a handful are its KPIs, and they usually appear on dashboards and in monthly reports.
Examples
This quarter, the main KPI is the trial-to-paid conversion rate.
If a number doesn't change any decision, it shouldn't be a KPI.
Common phrases
track KPIs · set KPIs · hit a KPI · KPI dashboard · main KPI
A number that measures something about a product or its users, such as sign-ups per day, average session length or the share of users who return.
Where you use it
Teams define, track, move and report metrics. Product people separate actionable metrics, which help them make decisions, from vanity metrics, which look impressive but say little, such as total downloads.
Examples
Which metric will tell us whether the new onboarding works?
Total sign-ups is a vanity metric; let's look at activated users instead.
Common phrases
track a metric · move the metric · success metric · vanity metric · key metrics
The single metric that best captures the core value a product delivers to its customers and that the whole company uses to guide long-term growth.
Where you use it
Examples include weekly active listeners for a music app or orders delivered for a food app. Revenue is rarely chosen, because it is a result of value rather than a measure of it. Teams then break it down into smaller input metrics they can influence.
Examples
Our north star metric is the number of invoices paid through the app each week.
How does this project move the north star metric?
Common phrases
define a north star metric · move the north star metric · north star framework · input metrics
The percentage of users who complete a desired action, such as signing up or buying, out of all users who had the chance to do it.
Where you use it
One of the most watched numbers in digital products. Teams measure, improve and increase conversion rates, usually for each step of a funnel. Always say what converts into what, for example visitor-to-trial or trial-to-paid conversion.
Examples
The conversion rate on mobile is half of what we see on desktop.
After we removed the extra form fields, the conversion rate went from 3% to 4.2%.
The share of users or customers who keep using a product over time, for example the percentage still active 30 days after signing up.
Where you use it
Often called the most honest product metric, since people only stay if the product gives them value. Teams measure day 1, day 7 and day 30 retention and compare retention curves by cohort. The opposite is churn.
Examples
Day 30 retention is 18%, which is too low for a subscription app.
The new reminders improved retention for users in their first month.
Common phrases
user retention · retention rate · improve retention · day 30 retention · retention curve
The loss of customers or users who stop using or paying for a product during a period, often shown as a percentage called the churn rate.
Where you use it
Used as a noun and a verb: monthly churn is 4%; customers churn after the free trial. Subscription businesses watch it closely. Teams reduce churn by finding out why users leave, through exit surveys and interviews.
Examples
Churn went up after the price change, mostly among small accounts.
Customers who never invite a teammate are three times more likely to churn.
The number of unique users who use a product on a given day, used to measure how big and how engaged its active audience is.
Where you use it
Shortened to DAU, said letter by letter. Monthly active users is MAU, and DAU divided by MAU, the stickiness ratio, shows how often people come back. Each team must define what counts as active: opening the app, or doing something meaningful in it.
Examples
Daily active users dropped by 8% after the update, so we're checking for bugs.
We count daily active users as people who send at least one message, not people who just open the app.
Common phrases
DAU/MAU ratio · monthly active users · grow daily active users · daily active users chart
How often and how deeply users interact with a product, measured by things such as sessions per week, time spent or key actions taken.
Where you use it
Teams drive, increase and measure engagement. It is only useful when tied to real value: more time spent is good in a game but may be a bad sign in a banking app, where users want to finish quickly.
Examples
Engagement is high among teachers but low among students.
The weekly summary email increased engagement for about a month and then faded.
The series of steps users go through toward a goal, such as visit, sign up, activate and pay, with fewer users remaining at each step.
Where you use it
Teams analyze the funnel to find where users drop off. Common phrases are top of the funnel, drop-off between steps and funnel analysis. Fixing the leakiest step is usually worth more than bringing more traffic to the top.
Examples
Most of the drop-off in our funnel happens at the phone verification step.
Let's build a funnel from first visit to first order and see where people leave.
Common phrases
conversion funnel · funnel analysis · top of the funnel · drop-off in the funnel
The extent to which users start using a product or a new feature, usually measured as the share of eligible users who have tried it or use it regularly.
Where you use it
Feature adoption is a key metric after launch. Teams drive, track and increase adoption with in-app tips, emails and better onboarding. Low adoption may mean users can't find the feature, or that they don't need it.
Examples
Adoption of the new calendar view is only 12% after two months.
To improve adoption, we added a short tip the first time users open a project.
A group of users who share a characteristic in a given time period, most often the week or month they signed up, and who are studied together over time.
Where you use it
Cohort analysis compares how different groups behave, for example whether users who joined in March are retained better than those who joined in January. It shows whether product changes are really improving things.
Examples
The September cohort is retained much better than earlier ones, probably thanks to the new onboarding.
Let's run a cohort analysis before we say the redesign worked.
Short for Net Promoter Score: a measure of customer loyalty based on how likely people say they are to recommend a product, on a scale from 0 to 10.
Where you use it
People who answer 9–10 are promoters, 7–8 passives and 0–6 detractors. NPS is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors, so it ranges from −100 to +100. The follow-up “why?” comments are often more useful than the score.
Examples
Our NPS went from 32 to 41 after we fixed the sync issues.
Most detractors in the NPS survey mentioned slow customer support.
Common phrases
NPS survey · NPS score · improve NPS · run an NPS survey
The total revenue, or profit, a business expects to earn from one customer during the whole time that customer stays with it.
Where you use it
Shortened to CLV or LTV. It is usually compared with customer acquisition cost (CAC); a common rule of thumb in subscription businesses is an LTV to CAC ratio of about 3 to 1. Reducing churn is one of the strongest ways to raise it.
Examples
Annual plans have a much higher customer lifetime value than monthly ones.
If we spend $200 to win a customer, their customer lifetime value needs to be well above that.
Common phrases
increase customer lifetime value · LTV to CAC ratio · average customer lifetime value · lifetime value
A metric that changes early and helps predict a future result, such as weekly logins predicting renewals, so a team can act before it is too late.
Where you use it
The opposite is a lagging indicator, such as revenue or yearly churn, which shows results only after they happen. PMs look for leading indicators because they give faster feedback on whether a change is working.
Examples
The number of projects created in the first week is a strong leading indicator of renewal.
Revenue won't move for months, so let's agree on a leading indicator we can watch now.
Common phrases
lagging indicator · strong leading indicator · track leading indicators · leading and lagging indicators
An experiment in which users are randomly split into groups that see different versions of a page or feature, so the team can measure which version performs better.
Where you use it
Version A is usually the current one (the control) and version B the change (the variant). Teams run, set up and analyze A/B tests, and wait until the result is statistically significant before deciding. Also called a split test.
Examples
We're running an A/B test on the pricing page: one version shows monthly prices, the other yearly prices.
The A/B test needs another week to reach enough users.
Common phrases
run an A/B test · A/B test results · set up an A/B test · A/B testing tool
A clear, testable statement of what the team believes will happen if it makes a change, and how it will know whether it was right.
Where you use it
A common pattern: We believe that [change] will result in [outcome] for [users]; we will know we are right when [metric moves]. Teams form, test, validate or reject a hypothesis. The plural is hypotheses.
Examples
Our hypothesis is that a shorter sign-up form will increase completed registrations by 10%.
The data didn't support the hypothesis, so we dropped the idea.
Common phrases
test a hypothesis · form a hypothesis · validate a hypothesis · hypothesis-driven
To check with evidence, such as user tests, data or experiments, that an idea, assumption or solution is actually right before investing more in it.
Where you use it
Very common in startups and discovery work: validate an idea, validate demand, validate the problem. The noun is validation. Be careful: talking to three friends who like your idea is not validation.
Examples
Before building the integration, let's validate that customers will actually pay for it.
We validated the problem in interviews, but we haven't validated the solution yet.
Common phrases
validate an idea · validate demand · validate assumptions · validate the problem · customer validation
In an experiment, the group of users who see the current, unchanged version, so their results can be compared with the group that sees the change.
Where you use it
Often simply called the control. Users must be assigned to the control group at random; otherwise the comparison is not fair. People say the variant beat the control or performed worse than the control.
Examples
Half of new users are in the control group and keep seeing the old onboarding.
The control group converted at 5.1% and the variant at 5.6%.
Common phrases
control group · holdout group · compare with the control · assign to the control group
In an A/B test, a changed version of a page or feature that is shown to some users and compared with the current version.
Where you use it
An A/B test has one control and at least one variant; tests with several variants are called A/B/n tests. Teams create, roll out or kill a variant. Data scientists often call it the treatment.
Examples
Variant B, with the green button, increased clicks but not purchases.
We're testing three variants of the headline this week.
Common phrases
winning variant · test a variant · roll out the variant · variant B · treatment group
A sign that a difference between test groups is probably real and not just the result of random chance, judged against an agreed threshold.
Where you use it
Teams often use a 95% confidence level, which matches a p-value below 0.05. PMs ask whether a result is statistically significant before acting on it, and avoid stopping a test early just because the numbers look good.
Examples
The difference looks big, but it isn't statistically significant yet.
We reached statistical significance after 40,000 visitors.
Usage note
Statistically significant does not mean important. A tiny improvement can be significant but still not worth the cost.
A metric a team watches during an experiment or launch to make sure the change does not harm something important, such as speed, revenue or complaints.
Where you use it
Teams define guardrail metrics together with the main success metric before an A/B test starts. If a guardrail metric gets worse beyond an agreed limit, the variant is stopped even if the main metric improves.
Examples
Page load time is a guardrail metric for every checkout experiment.
Clicks went up, but the unsubscribe rate, our guardrail metric, doubled.
Common phrases
set guardrail metrics · breach a guardrail · guardrail metric threshold · success metric
The starting value of a metric before a change is made, used as a reference point to measure whether the change improved anything.
Where you use it
Teams measure or establish a baseline before launching an experiment or a new feature. Without a baseline, a claim like “sign-ups went up” cannot be checked. People also say compared with the baseline or above baseline.
Examples
The baseline conversion rate is 2.8%, so our goal is to reach 3.5%.
We forgot to measure a baseline, so we can't prove the new flow is faster.
Common phrases
establish a baseline · baseline metric · compared with the baseline · measure the baseline
The moment a new product or feature is made available to users, together with the marketing, sales and support activities planned around it.
Where you use it
Also a verb: launch a product. A launch is more than a release: it includes announcements, documentation, training for sales and support, and success metrics. PMs often coordinate a launch checklist across several teams.
Examples
The launch is planned for March 12, right after the trade show.
We launched the Android app two weeks after the iOS version.
Common phrases
product launch · launch date · soft launch · launch plan · launch checklist
A new version of a product that is made available to users, or the act of making it available, often containing several features and fixes.
Where you use it
More technical than launch: engineering talks about release cycles, release candidates and release dates. Teams plan, cut, ship and roll back a release. Mobile apps need extra time because each release goes through app store review.
Examples
The fix will be in next week's release.
We had to roll back the release because login stopped working on older phones.
Common phrases
release date · release cycle · major release · roll back a release · release candidate
The plan for how a new product or feature will reach its customers: who it is for, and how it is priced, positioned, promoted and sold.
Where you use it
Shortened to GTM, said letter by letter. The PM usually writes it with product marketing and sales. A GTM plan covers the target segment, messaging, channels, pricing, launch timing and preparing the sales team.
Examples
Our go-to-market strategy for the new plan is self-serve sign-up first and a sales team later.
The feature is ready, but we still don't have a go-to-market strategy for Germany.
Common phrases
go-to-market plan · GTM strategy · go-to-market team · define a go-to-market strategy
A test period, or a test version, in which a product or feature is released to a limited group of real users before the full launch.
Where you use it
A closed or private beta is by invitation only; an open or public beta is available to anyone who opts in. Teams run, join and exit a beta, and features are said to be in beta. The earlier stage, tested mostly inside the company, is called alpha.
Examples
The new editor is in beta with 50 customers, and we'll open it to everyone in May.
Beta users found two serious bugs that our own tests missed.
Common phrases
closed beta · public beta · beta testers · in beta · beta program
To make a new product, feature or change available to users, often step by step to a growing share of them.
Where you use it
Common in release planning: roll out to 10% of users, roll out gradually, roll out globally. The noun is rollout (a phased rollout). Gradual rollouts, often controlled with feature flags, limit the damage if something goes wrong.
Examples
We'll roll out the new design to 5% of users first and watch the error rate.
The feature was rolled out in Turkey last week and will reach the rest of Europe in June.
Common phrases
roll out gradually · roll out to all users · phased rollout · rollout plan · staged rollout
A switch in the code that lets a team turn a feature on or off for some or all users without releasing a new version of the product.
Where you use it
Also called a feature toggle. Feature flags let teams ship code early, test with internal users, run A/B tests and quickly turn off a feature that causes problems. Old flags must be cleaned up, or they become technical debt.
Examples
The new search is behind a feature flag, so only employees can see it for now.
When the bug appeared, we turned off the feature flag within two minutes.
Common phrases
behind a feature flag · turn on a feature flag · feature flag tool · remove a feature flag
A short document that tells users or customers what is new, changed or fixed in a particular version of a product.
Where you use it
Written by PMs, product marketers or technical writers and published in the app, the help center or the app store. Good release notes explain the benefit to users, not internal ticket names. A related word is changelog.
Examples
Please check the release notes before Monday so support knows what changed.
The release notes just said “bug fixes”, and customers complained.
Common phrases
write release notes · publish release notes · in the release notes · release notes for version 2.0
One of the first customers to try a new product, usually someone who feels the problem strongly and accepts some bugs in return for early access.
Where you use it
Early adopters are valuable in MVPs and betas because they give detailed feedback. PMs should remember, however, that they are often more technical and more tolerant than the mainstream market that comes later.
Examples
Our early adopters were small agencies that were tired of spreadsheets.
Early adopters love the advanced settings, but new users find them confusing.
Common phrases
attract early adopters · early adopter program · early adopter feedback · win early adopters
How a product is placed in customers' minds compared with alternatives: what it is, who it is for and why it is the best choice for them.
Where you use it
Usually defined by product marketing and the PM together before a launch. Positioning shapes the website, the sales pitch and pricing. Teams define, sharpen and change their positioning; a positioning statement sums it up in one or two sentences.
Examples
Our positioning is “the accounting tool for freelancers”, not “for every business”.
After the competitor's launch, we had to rethink our positioning.
The way a company decides how much to charge for a product and how to structure that charge, for example with plans, tiers, discounts and free trials.
Where you use it
Common software pricing models are per seat, usage-based, freemium and tiered plans. PMs often own or shape pricing together with finance and marketing, and test changes carefully because they affect revenue and churn directly.
Examples
We're changing our pricing from per seat to per active user.
The pricing page is the most visited page after the homepage.
Common phrases
pricing model · pricing page · pricing strategy · freemium pricing · change the pricing
A formal decision, usually made in a meeting shortly before launch, about whether a product or release is ready to go ahead or should be delayed.
Where you use it
Based on agreed criteria such as open critical bugs, test results, support readiness and sign-offs. People say we're a go, it's a no-go, or hold a go/no-go meeting. A no-go is not a failure if it prevents a bad launch.
Examples
We'll make the go/no-go decision on Thursday after the final test run.
The go/no-go decision was a no-go because the payment provider wasn't ready.
Common phrases
go/no-go meeting · make a go/no-go decision · go/no-go criteria · it's a no-go
To gradually retire a product or feature and stop supporting it, usually after warning users and helping them move to an alternative.
Where you use it
A softer word than kill or remove, used in announcements and planning: we are sunsetting the desktop app. Also a noun: the sunset date. Retiring old features frees up time and reduces complexity, but it needs careful communication.
Examples
We're sunsetting the old reports page on June 30; all the data is available in the new dashboard.
Only 2% of users still open the legacy editor, so we decided to sunset it.
Common phrases
sunset a feature · sunset date · sunset plan · sunset the old version
The practice of a company using its own product internally, often before release, to find problems and understand the user experience firsthand.
Where you use it
Comes from the phrase eating your own dog food. Common in software companies: we're dogfooding the new version, a dogfooding period. It finds many bugs, but employees are not typical users, so it does not replace testing with real customers.
Examples
We've been dogfooding the new calendar for two weeks, and it has already caught three serious bugs.
Dogfooding showed us how annoying the daily notification really is.
Common phrases
dogfooding period · internal dogfooding · dogfood a feature · eat your own dog food
The person who decides what a product should do and why, by understanding users and the business, and who guides the team that builds it.
Where you use it
A job title in tech companies, startups and digital teams, usually shortened to PM. Common levels are associate, senior, group and principal product manager. A PM works with design, engineering, data, marketing and sales but usually manages none of them directly.
Examples
Our new product manager spent her first two weeks talking to customers before touching the roadmap.
Ask the product manager of the payments team; she owns the checkout flow.
Usage note
PM can also mean project manager, a different role focused on delivery dates and budgets. If the context does not make it clear, ask.
Common phrases
senior product manager · work as a product manager · technical product manager · report to the product manager
Any person or group inside or outside the company who is affected by a product decision or can influence it, such as executives, sales, support or legal.
Where you use it
PMs spend a lot of time on stakeholder management: keeping stakeholders informed, collecting their input and getting their support. Common phrases are key stakeholders, manage stakeholders and keep stakeholders in the loop.
Examples
Let's share the draft with the key stakeholders before the review.
Legal is an important stakeholder for anything that touches user data.
Common phrases
key stakeholders · stakeholder management · keep stakeholders in the loop · stakeholder update
In Scrum, the person accountable for the product backlog: deciding its order, making items clear and making sure the team works on the most valuable things.
Where you use it
Shortened to PO. In some companies the product manager also plays the product owner role; in others, especially banks and large corporations, they are separate jobs, and the PO works with the development team every day.
Examples
The product owner moved the export story to the top of the backlog.
Check with the product owner before you change the acceptance criteria.
Common phrases
act as product owner · product owner role · ask the product owner · technical product owner
A state in which people or teams agree on goals, priorities and decisions, so they work in the same direction instead of against each other.
Where you use it
Very common in product meetings: get alignment, we're aligned, let's align on the scope. Much of a PM's job is reaching alignment across engineering, design, sales and leadership before the work starts.
Examples
We need alignment with the sales team before we change the pricing page.
The meeting ended without alignment, so I'll write up the options and the trade-offs.
Common phrases
get alignment · create alignment · alignment meeting · lack of alignment · cross-team alignment
Real support and agreement from the people whose help or approval you need, so that they back a plan instead of just tolerating it.
Where you use it
PMs need, get, win and secure buy-in from leadership, engineering or sales. Buy-in usually comes from involving people early and showing evidence, not from a polished presentation at the very end.
Examples
Without buy-in from engineering, the rewrite will never get prioritized.
I shared clips from the interviews with the sales leads to get their buy-in.
Usage note
Buy-in is a noun (we need buy-in). The related verb is buy into: they don't buy into the plan.
Common phrases
get buy-in · stakeholder buy-in · secure buy-in · buy-in from leadership
To disagree with or resist a request, decision or deadline, usually politely and with reasons; also, to move a date to later.
Where you use it
Saying no is part of a PM's job, so push back on is heard daily: push back on a request, push back on scope. The noun is pushback: we got some pushback from sales. In the second meaning: the launch was pushed back to May.
Examples
I pushed back on the request because it would delay the security work.
The launch was pushed back by two weeks after the beta results.
Usage note
Pushing back a date makes it later. To make a date earlier, say bring forward or move up.
Common phrases
push back on a request · get pushback · push back on scope · push back the deadline
A team made up of people with different skills, such as product, design, engineering and data, who work together toward the same product goal.
Where you use it
The standard setup in modern product companies, sometimes called a squad or pod. The PM guides the team on what and why, the engineering lead on how. Working cross-functionally reduces handovers and waiting between departments.
Examples
Each cross-functional team owns one part of the customer journey, from sign-up to payment.
Our cross-functional team has a PM, a designer, five engineers and a data analyst.
Common phrases
work cross-functionally · cross-functional collaboration · lead a cross-functional team · cross-functional squad
To take a problem or disagreement to a more senior person because it cannot be solved at the current level or is becoming urgent.
Where you use it
Escalating is a normal step, not a failure, when it is done early and calmly with clear options. PMs escalate blockers, conflicting priorities and serious customer issues. The noun is escalation.
Examples
If the platform team can't give us a date by Friday, I'll escalate it to the VP.
The customer escalated the bug to their account manager.
Common phrases
escalate an issue · escalate to leadership · escalation path · escalate quickly
To give formal approval that a document, design or piece of work is acceptable, so that the next step can begin.
Where you use it
Used with on in American English (sign off on the design) and often without it in British English (sign off the design). The noun is sign-off: we need sign-off from legal. PMs collect sign-offs before launches and major releases.
Examples
Legal signed off on the new privacy text this morning.
We can't start development until the CFO signs off on the pricing.
Common phrases
sign off on · get sign-off · final sign-off · sign-off from legal
A short document of about one page that summarizes a proposal, such as the problem, the opportunity and the suggested approach, for quick review.
Where you use it
Written before a full PRD to get early feedback or buy-in from busy leaders. A one-pager forces clear thinking: if the idea does not fit on one page, it is probably not clear yet.
Examples
Can you write a one-pager on the loyalty idea before we discuss it with the CEO?
Her one-pager made the case in five bullet points and a single chart.
Common phrases
write a one-pager · share a one-pager · product one-pager · one-pager template
A short, regular report that tells stakeholders what has been done, what is coming next and what risks or blockers exist.
Where you use it
Sent weekly or every two weeks by email or Slack, or given in a meeting. Good PMs keep status updates short, lead with what changed and flag problems early. Common phrases: on track, at risk, blocked, slipped.
Examples
In this week's status update: search is on track, but payments is at risk.
Please send me a quick status update before the leadership meeting.
Common phrases
weekly status update · send a status update · give a status update · status update email
Ten questions from this glossary. Pick the right meaning for each term and see your score.
How to learn product management vocabulary
Learn the terms that are easy to confuse as pairs: product manager and product owner, output and outcome, KPI and OKR, epic and user story, launch and release. Using the right one in a planning meeting shows that you know how product teams really work.
Read real product texts in English: public PRD templates, product team blogs, release notes, changelogs and app store update notes. Notice the verbs that go with each noun: ship a feature, hit a target, run an experiment, get buy-in.
Build a small phrase bank for daily meetings: “What problem are we solving?”, “This is blocked by the payments team”, “Let's add it to the backlog”, “The data doesn't support that yet”. You will use these sentences almost every day.
Practice saying the abbreviations out loud. KPI, MVP, PRD, OKR and NPS are said letter by letter, while RICE and MoSCoW are said as words.
Write your own user stories and acceptance criteria in English with the standard patterns (“As a…, I want…, so that…” and “Given…, when…, then…”). Writing them is the fastest way to make this vocabulary active.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a product manager and a project manager?
A product manager decides what should be built and why, and stays responsible for the product's results over its whole life. A project manager makes sure a defined piece of work is delivered on time, within budget and to the agreed scope, and the project then ends. Both are often shortened to PM, so check which one people mean.
What is the difference between a product manager and a product owner?
Product owner is a role defined in Scrum: the person accountable for the product backlog and for making sure the team builds the most valuable things. Product manager is a job title with a wider scope that also covers strategy, market research, discovery, pricing and launches. In many companies one person does both; in others, especially large banks and corporations, they are separate jobs.
Do Turkish product teams use the English terms or the Turkish ones?
Mostly the English ones in daily work. Words such as backlog, sprint, feature, roadmap, release, epic and PRD are used inside Turkish sentences with Turkish endings: “backlog'a ekleyelim”, “feature'ı canlıya aldık”. Formal documents, training material and job postings more often use Turkish equivalents such as yol haritası, kullanıcı hikayesi, paydaş and gereksinim. Knowing both helps in meetings and in writing.
Which documents does a product manager write in English?
The most common are PRDs or specs, user stories with acceptance criteria, one-pagers for new ideas, business cases, weekly status updates, experiment summaries and release notes. Most of them follow a similar logic: the problem, the goal and how success will be measured, then the solution and the open questions.
How can I say no to a feature request politely in English?
Thank the person, ask about the problem behind the request and explain the trade-off. Useful sentences are “Thanks, that's useful input”, “Can you tell me more about what you're trying to do?”, “It's not a priority this quarter because we're focused on…” and “I've added it to the backlog, and we'll revisit it in planning.” Avoid promising dates you cannot keep.
